tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6666226609376223220.post8994238615058730849..comments2012-10-14T06:36:43.136-04:00Comments on 5B4: Worldview by Leonard FreedMr. Whisketsnoreply@blogger.comBlogger19125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6666226609376223220.post-65322342665075617612007-09-05T22:41:00.000-04:002007-09-05T22:41:00.000-04:00I received a nice note from a person at Steidl tha...I received a nice note from a person at Steidl that let me know about the printing flaw with Worldview.<BR/> <BR/>Seems most of my suspicions were correct. <BR/><BR/>The Musee was having the prints photographed (I assume because they were vintage prints and the Musee wanted to capture the patina of them?) and the first two sets of test shots submitted were lacking shadow and highlight detail so they were refused by the head of the scanning department at Steidl. <BR/><BR/>The last set were better but the same problems had resurfaced when they received the entire lot from the photographer. The green light had to be given to proceed with printing because of the exhibition deadline.<BR/><BR/>My thanks to Steidl for clarifying.Jeff Laddnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6666226609376223220.post-40202773255948635552007-09-05T09:27:00.000-04:002007-09-05T09:27:00.000-04:00William,Thank you for your comments and the insigh...William,<BR/><BR/>Thank you for your comments and the insight into what went into making Worldview.<BR/><BR/>Admittedly, the discussion of gutter images that befell upon this particular book was a bit untimely as I think the images that cross the gutter were chosen wisely and care was given to minimize the effect. I can think of hundreds of other titles that were laid out in a manner where the designer was just leaving their mark so to speak. This I was not mentioning Worldview as one that fell into this camp.<BR/><BR/>I hope my reactions do not seem knee-jerk as I make these criticisms on a case by case basis. My criticism of gutter images is simply how, when "reading" the book, there are moments when the reader is removed from the direct experience of the photographs. It might be the ringing of a cell phone or any disturbance. Or it might be in the book design. When I am drawn away from an image in those circumstances, I make note of it. I may be overly sensitive.<BR/><BR/>It is a wonderful book and I have heard that the exhibition is fantastic. I had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Freed several times (and had the rare pleasure of printing a few of his images years ago) he will be missed greatly. <BR/><BR/>Please keep reading and commenting.Jeff Laddnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6666226609376223220.post-11909801620579550212007-09-05T08:13:00.000-04:002007-09-05T08:13:00.000-04:00I would like to say something about the design of ...I would like to say something about the design of the new Freed book, and the question of guttering. I laid out the book, and it was done very carefully as a sequence of pairs. When the pairing wasn't "perfect", I ran the images alone on a double page. Sometimes the image runs across the gutter, sometimes not--it all depended on the power of the image. <BR/><BR/>When it does run across the gutter, it is intentional. It is absurd to have a rule set in stone. I chose images that (a) would not be compromised by gutttering, and (b) would be enhanced bigger than a single page allows. <BR/><BR/>I lay out books with great attention to these issues, and it is always frustrating to see people with knee-jerk reactions. I fully agree that guttering can kill a picture. But it can also work extremely well. <BR/><BR/>The reaction to our show by the public was quite astonishing. Normally our public seems to react according to age, but this time young and old were deeply moved. We have a visitors' book and the words 'moving' 'fascinating' 'magnificent' etc., were often repeated. <BR/><BR/>William A. Ewing, director<BR/>Musee de l'Elysee LausanneWilliam A. Ewingnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6666226609376223220.post-88927076549974518532007-08-28T06:28:00.000-04:002007-08-28T06:28:00.000-04:00ps: the exhibition will be next shown in the Fotom...ps: the exhibition will be next shown in the Fotomuseum Den Haag (06.10.2007-13.01.2008)Adrianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11012344762714691838noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6666226609376223220.post-55822418905581291432007-08-28T06:24:00.000-04:002007-08-28T06:24:00.000-04:00Gutters aside, I visited the exhibition last weeke...Gutters aside, I visited the exhibition last weekend and it was well worth the two hours train ride each way - HIGHLY RECOMMENDED! It will end next weekend, so hurry up if you're nearby Lausanne, Switzerland.<BR/>http://tinyurl.com/2l4aw9<BR/><BR/>Thanks to Jeff for bringing it to my attention.Adrianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11012344762714691838noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6666226609376223220.post-23162159098964619032007-08-25T00:41:00.000-04:002007-08-25T00:41:00.000-04:00Thanks Cary...Thanks Cary...Jeff Laddnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6666226609376223220.post-42453526793803767042007-08-24T16:44:00.000-04:002007-08-24T16:44:00.000-04:00I like how when I google "Worldview by Leonard Fre...I like how when I google "Worldview by Leonard Freed" your blog is at the top of the list. Keep up the fantastic work.Carywww.visualdiaries.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6666226609376223220.post-77324298307880303962007-08-24T09:20:00.000-04:002007-08-24T09:20:00.000-04:00Stuart,I think there is still a lot of moaning abo...Stuart,<BR/><BR/>I think there is still a lot of moaning about photos in gutters because, unbelievably, photographers still don't understand how to handle them. They forget that their book will rarely be flat like the layouts on single pieces of paper. As you said, all they have to do is remember to leave room to shift the photos left or right to get them out of the gutter. It's amazing they don't remember to do that after all the disasters they have seen. It's a rare book that has small signatures that allow it to open flat. Just when I think photographers have remembered how to handle the gutter, I get another book with lots of headless subjects or pinheads - lost in the gutter.rbsphotonoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6666226609376223220.post-71985590796474884602007-08-22T19:43:00.000-04:002007-08-22T19:43:00.000-04:00The trick is to have a format that allows image to...The trick is to have a format that allows image to be moved from one side or other, depending on picture content. RE: sally mann: the gutter is where they belong. No redeming social value.Double Enoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6666226609376223220.post-11213200224437416822007-08-22T19:04:00.000-04:002007-08-22T19:04:00.000-04:00Stuart,That's why i was compelled to do The Silenc...Stuart,<BR/>That's why i was compelled to do The Silence which is one of many books that achieve gutter images that I have no problem with. What does get my goat is when it is entirely motivated by the designers feeling that the momentum of the book suffers if the photos are not occasionally shifted away from a book's established pattern. I am not crazy about the book but look at Sally Mann's Immediate Family. 4 pictures are shoved into the gutter when all the rest are full page with a little border. Why was it necessary for those four (which are ruined by the shifting)?? I often "read" this as the designer leaving their mark on books. Kind of like a dog pissing on a hydrant.Jeff "Gutterless" Laddnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6666226609376223220.post-84293774829258096742007-08-22T09:07:00.000-04:002007-08-22T09:07:00.000-04:00I am a little tired of this moaning about the gutt...I am a little tired of this moaning about the gutter. As I said above, running pictures across the gutter can be done intelligently. Take a look at Henri Cartier-Bresson's 'The Decisive Moment' and tell me that the double-page spreads are not spectacular and the images would be better served by staying out of the gutter. There are many other examples up to the present but that is one of the best classic examples.Stuart Alexandernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6666226609376223220.post-38717616538326041442007-08-21T13:33:00.000-04:002007-08-21T13:33:00.000-04:00Unless the binding is such that a double spread ca...Unless the binding is such that a double spread can lie open flat, which is usually NOT the case - I can't help but consider the loss of an image to this dreaded gutter. <BR/><BR/>I can't believe there are that many people, especially involved w/ photography, who are NOT incensed by this.One Way Streethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11821529041615599849noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6666226609376223220.post-36838579275530791122007-08-21T07:20:00.000-04:002007-08-21T07:20:00.000-04:00I know I'm in a minority of one here, but actually...I know I'm in a minority of one here, but actually LIKE double spreads, and have done since I first saw the butterfly at the end of The Hungry Caterpillar. <BR/>Admittedly this probably has something to do with my mother making the butterfly flap its wings and even then, from age, six months or whatever I would have been when this book was presented to me, it irritated me that the gutter was a quarter of the way down one wing so the butterfly flapped in a maimed kind of way.<BR/>I probably wouldn't go for a big fold and stitching down the middle as the preferred feature of a gallery print. But I love it when, after all these neat and tidy pictures keeping themselves to themselves, each to a page, you get one that's twice the size spilling out across two pages, it just jumps at you. And there's something exciting about the movement of the page, being able to open the picture out. <BR/>I like double spreads so much that, even though I generally shoot landscape, being too lazy to turn the camera upright, sometimes I make panoramas just so I can have a double spread in my (landscape) portfolio.Amyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02903758558318105593noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6666226609376223220.post-22870144938234898412007-08-19T08:56:00.000-04:002007-08-19T08:56:00.000-04:00Yes, oh my god, photo in the gutter. I am absolute...Yes, oh my god, photo in the gutter. I am absolutely appalled that a photographer would allow that to happen to his/her work. I just got a book by an Indonesia photog and JHC!, about 20% of his photos are mutilated by the gutter. <BR/><BR/>What's wrong with occasionally printing in landscape format?Sufianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05920865973263896241noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6666226609376223220.post-69790092840505806422007-08-19T00:58:00.000-04:002007-08-19T00:58:00.000-04:00The book design is credited to Sarah Winter / Stei...The book design is credited to Sarah Winter / Steidl Design. I don't know if that means Sarah AND Steidl or Sarah OF Steidl Design.Jeff Laddnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6666226609376223220.post-31542278618928575562007-08-19T00:56:00.000-04:002007-08-19T00:56:00.000-04:00Stuart,The introduction by William Ewing mentions ...Stuart,<BR/><BR/>The introduction by William Ewing mentions that Leonard was very hands on with both the book and exhibition. He lived to see their final edit for both show and book but did not live to see either in finished form. The show is apparently of vintage prints. He is mentioned to be "too much of a book person," so to him the book was more important than the exhibition.Jeff Laddnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6666226609376223220.post-81169904118411853692007-08-18T23:36:00.000-04:002007-08-18T23:36:00.000-04:00Photos in the gutter do not horrify me categorical...Photos in the gutter do not horrify me categorically. There is a way that it can be done intelligently (be selecting which pictures to run across the gutter, by placement of the gutter and by printing so no image is lost there) but it is often done ineptly and then I am appalled like you. <BR/><BR/>Does the text say how much involvement in the editing and design of the book Leonard had before his demise? He was a terrific photographer and a wonderful person who deserves a major monograph worthy of his stature. I look forward to seeing it.Stuart Alexandernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6666226609376223220.post-75568665691711012007-08-18T22:42:00.000-04:002007-08-18T22:42:00.000-04:00Colin,It happens all the time but out of my friend...Colin,<BR/><BR/>It happens all the time but out of my friends I seem to be the only one that goes ballistic over stuff like this. <BR/><BR/>Glad to hear there are others. I'm going to start a support group.Jeff Laddnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6666226609376223220.post-57702760742184768612007-08-18T17:37:00.000-04:002007-08-18T17:37:00.000-04:00The design aspect is my usual criticism of some im...<I>The design aspect is my usual criticism of some images getting dissected by the gutter of the book (this doesn’t seem to be problematic for most people only me).</I><BR/><BR/>You are not alone!<BR/><BR/>I've been known to choose not to buy a book because of this. It is endemic though. I was horrified, for example, to see gutter prints in Shore's new edition of 'The Nature of Photographs'.Colin [auspiciousdragon.net]http://www.blogger.com/profile/01417892855506788965noreply@blogger.com